While Riley made a good start to life at the NFL level, he couldn’t keep it up against the shifty Shady McCoy. His tackling was a huge problem as he missed four tackles, while he also got beat deep down the field for a big completion.

It was an undeniably ugly performance by Riley, no doubt. However, that doesn’t mean Atlanta fans should write him off just yet.

Remember last season rookie linebackers De’Vondre Campbell and Deion Jones both had some rough performances early on. Their issues were put under a microscope after a rough loss to the Philadelphia Eagles. After that, both turned it around and started to figure things out.

Perhaps this Week 4 dud by Riley is the motivation he’ll need to break out of his rookie funk and start balling out.